Meera Nanda

Meera Nanda is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. From 2005-2007 she was a John Templeton Foundation Fellow in Religion and Science.

Before turning to philosophy of science Meera Nanda was trained a microbiologist with a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, and a PhD in Biotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

At present Meera Nanada is working on her latest book 'The God Market: How Globalization is making India more Hindu'. The book describes how mainstream, popular and rather ritualistic Hinduism of urban middle classes is growing with the help of the state and the corporate sector. Nanda argues that this ritualistic worship of gods and goddesses has become such an ordinary, everyday part of public life - including in government funded-sponsored institutions and events - that it is taken for granted that Hindu gods are India's gods, Hindu culture is India's culture. The Hinduness of India and its supposed superiority over other faiths is re-defining India's self-perception as it becomes a significant global presence. The book will be published by Random House later this year.

Meera Nanda is the author several books including: ‘Wrongs of the Religious Right: Reflections on secularism, science and Hindutva'. New Delhi: Three Essays Collective, 2005, ‘Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodernism, Science and Hindu Nationalism' New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004, and ‘Breaking the Spell of Dharma and Other Essays', New Delhi: Three Essays Collective, 2002.